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Civil Disobedience: Unjust In The Government

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Civil Disobedience is the unjust in the government, and I for one believe unjust should be demolished. Martin Luther King was influenced by the writings of Henry David Thoreau to non violently take action when the rights of the citizens are in jeopardy. Therefore, civil disobedience can change society for the next generation. Disobedience and rebellion bring about social improvements in society because it will improve the lives of God’s children.

Henry David Thoreau argues that men must always do what they think is righteous, non-violently, especially when they think an aspect of government is not working. Thoreau believes that people should be ruled by conscience and that people have the right to overthrow the government once they corrupt …show more content…

He began speaking out against the injustices toward colored people whom have been the crippled from segregation and discrimination. During the 60s, colored people were forced to ride in the back of busses, were forced to stay apart from white people, and were commonly disrespected as the words “you are inferior” repeatedly beaten into them by the white society. Because of segregation, there were different schools, water fountains, restaurants, stores, and housing areas in which the white people had the most pleasant items. King attempt to coax the point on how equal rights can’t be modified by people obeying laws; his belief of fracturing certain unjust laws will change the society by having equal rights for the colored people. Therefore, movements and protests started to erupt in Alabama. Martin Luther King presented “I have a dream” speech which shattered in millions of people's views about the treatment for centuries of the colored society, during the speech he mentioned the check that symbolizes the opportunity of freedom and justice is due and if it’s not given then there would be no peace in America until given the right to vote, shake hands with all God’s children. August 28,1963, King’s peroration helped put civil rights at the top of the list in the U.S. and concluded Civil Rights Act of

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Throughout history there have been many political changes that are either supported, or not, by citizens. In the given passage from, "Civil Disobedience," by Thoreau, a perspective of disagreeing with the government ways, is provided. Thoreau explains how a government should be in comparison to how it really is by utilizing his words to set the tone and mode, imagery to achieve his audience's understanding, and diction to make his writing scholarly. Although tone and mode are not directly stated, you can infer that Thoreau meant for his writing to be taken as serious and powerful. His implementation of words such as, "inexpedient," "execute," " integrity," and "command," makes one think about their lawful rights and reflect on what rights are supported or

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In his essay “Civil Disobedience,” Henry David Thoreau asserts that the government is not needed and must be disobeyed for the sake of the people. Over a hundred years later after Thoreau published his essay, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” similarly shows the need for the disobeyment of the government. Thoreau asserts that governments are not necessary, and must be dissolved. While King follows a similar ideal, he believes that the government is inherently good, but that some of the laws passed by the government are cruel to people. While they are both appealing emotionally and ethically, King’s is more sound in argument and portrays a more practical way of civil disobedience.

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King had a mindset that people of all color need to come together and live as one community. King thought that African American people were to no longer be segregated and mistreated and that they must begin to be treated equally as others. King also acted on African American people must get equal pay as other people and have equal opportunity for higher positions. People loved to rally behind king because everyone of African American culture who was being mistreated at the time, loved everything king had to say. At was one Kings big Speeches he said: “I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice”(Document I).

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(Thoreau). One must fight for what they believe and should not kneel to government or tyranny. I look at this man as a leader to a revolution. During this time the British had complete control of the colonies and the British were seen as a global power. The people of the colonies became enraged when taxes went up, they felt like British had far too much control over their life’s.

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The government's flawed state can be corrected by the action of an individual. Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience heavily reinforces this idea by presenting novel concepts regarding the role, responsibilities, and options of individuals, as they pertain to government, throughout the course of the text. The text was written in 1894 during the time of the Mexican American war when the US government, and the people it represented, found itself in a turbulent, uncertain state. Thoreau’s mission was to inform other transcendentalists and civilians in the United States about the actions they could and should have taken against government when unacceptable forms of rule arose. Although many Americans believed achieving reform was impossible through the actions of individuals, Thoreau’s belief was that independent and just strides could be enough to make considerable change; this becomes clear when Thoreau says, “It is not as important that many should be as good as you, as that may be some absolute goodness, for that will leaven the lump”

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Martin Luther King, Jr. and Henry David Thoreau both argue for the right to refuse to obey certain laws for the purpose of influencing government policy. They fight for this right to disobey laws if there is social injustice in their society. Both King and Thoreau have the same ideas on civil disobedience, but they execute them differently. Thoreau laid the groundwork for future readers for the concept of civil disobedience and tells his audience to take action and to rise up against the corrupt laws that are being made. King took this concept and used it to transform the laws that were against African Americans, which were insufferable, and to show that civil disobedience should be used to free them from the intolerable acts happening around them.

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Henry David Thoreau, writes the literary work “Resistance to Civil Government.” Thoreau’s rationale for civil disobedience with the justification for breaking the law came from his strong anti-government, and individualist attitude. Thoreau felt that it was the individual man which moved the country forward and that would happen even if there was no government. (Thoreau 965). Thoreau was for civil disobedience when the government was unjust, and during his time could find many faults with the government.

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People's justification to engage in civil disobedience rests on the unresponsiveness that their engagement to oppose an unjust law receives. People who yearn for a change in a policy might sometimes find themselves in a dead end because their “attempts to have the laws repealed have been ignored and legal protests and demonstrations have had no success” (Rawls 373). What Rawls says is that civil disobedience is a last option to oppose an unjust law; therefore, providing civil disobedients with a justification for their cause. Civil disobedience is the spark of light that people encountered at the dead end and they hope that this spark of light will illuminate to show that an unjust law should not exist at all. Martin Luther King, Jr, in his “Letter from

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Nonetheless, these laws did not solve the problems facing African Americans; they did not eliminate racism or poverty and they did not improve the conditions in many black urban neighborhoods. In addition to the subject, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a miraculous social activist, led the civil rights movement in the United States from the mid-1950s up until 1968. Martin Luther King Jr. played a pivotal role in ending the legal segregation of African-American citizens in the south and other areas of the nation, as well as the creation of the civil rights act of 1964 and the voting rights act of 1965. In spite of his sorrowful assassination in April 1968, at the time I felt as if Martin Luther King Jr. had done his duty in life. For instance, he had reformed the world forever with his remarkable “I Have a Dream” speech on August 28, 1963.

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Civil Disobedience Peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society. Without peaceful resistance, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s peaceful protests on Civil Right’s, African American citizens would not have the right’s that they unquestionably deserve. Also, many others would not have the ability to accomplish the things that they can today. Aggressive and pernicious disobedience only leads to downfalls and violence in our society, but placid and peaceful disobedience, make America the free country that it is today.

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Many people watch the news every day, and some wonder why they aren’t in Washington making laws that would be more beneficial to their lives. Unfortunately, that’s not how the government runs now or ever did. Henry Thoreau believes that no citizen should give in to the government, if they don’t agree with an unjust law or statement. He uses methods such as the right of revolution or basic human rights, and protest, to resist a corrupt and over-reaching government. Thoreau strongly believes that every man has the right to express their feelings about the government in any form or fashion.

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“King set about organizing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which gave him a base of operation throughout the South, as well as a national platform from which to speak. King lectured in all parts of the country and discusses race-related issues with religious and civil rights leaders at home and abroad . . . King became increasingly convinced that nonviolent resistance was the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle to freedom” (Nonviolent Resistant). Martin Luther King Jr. starts to go out and widen his audience when it comes to talking about race and equal rights which are important because he starts to receive a much better audience that wants to participate in all of King’s activities to try and stop the segregation in the South.

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By the late 1960’s all was settled and all the mess was over. Martin wrote his “I have a dream” speech in 1963 on August 28. King’s intentions were that one day all men, white and black, could all be bothers. Many people did not face the racist things that Martin Luther King, Jr. did but in the end everyone knows that this made King a better person for going through what he did to make everything equal again. Many people seemed to question the Jim Crow Laws that treat African American citizens.

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Thoreau agrees with the idea of civil disobedience being positive and makes many great points. One of the biggest examples in American history is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He took up the courage to be the leader of this movement and made African Americans and other races, equal to everyone. This made our country more united and more of a free country, like we were supposed to be in the first place.

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Civil disobedience is the deliberate action against an unjust law to invoke a positive change in government and society. Civilians have the right to refute these types of unjust laws to eliminate inequality and government’s unjust nature by following conscience before laws for moral guidance. As demonstrated in Antigone, this is depicted by the daughter of Oedipus, who disobeys Creon’s law for the greater good because of the laws unjust nature. In Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau, a naturalist, promotes this concept as well through his philosophical standpoint of the flaws of the government. Lastly, in Dr. King’s letter he qualifies the idea of civilians disobeying their government through non violent campaigns to stand up against

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